INDIANAPOLIS -- Being a new head coach in today's NFL is like being a kid whose parents load Christmas presents under the tree at summer's end.

You can see them. But you can't open them for 3-4 more months, sorry.

They're beyond anxious to talk football with their players, but because of the 2011 CBA with the players union they are forbidden from doing so.

"There's so much time between when you get the job and you meet the players," Bills head coach Doug Marrone said at the NFL scouting combine. "And that's very difficult, because people are going to ask you a lot of questions about personnel, roster, evaluations -- and you really want to deal with the players first (about that)."